Chibombo tragedies: Church must rise

The Chibombo road accident in which six people died when the car they were travelling in collided with a truck this week will be remembered – like many others before it – forever mostly by the anguished of relatives and friends who lost their loved ones.
The carnage on the Great North Road, especially on the stretch between Chibombo and Liteta in the Central Province, has become a matter of public concern that must not be left entirely to the Government to handle if the nation is to halt the senseless loss of precious life.
I believe time is ripe for the Church, in particular, to rise up and demolish all the satanic alters that must have been erected by Satanists who use the lives of people who die in accidents as human sacrifice to the devil.
Surely the accidents that are taking place along the Chibombo stretch are not a coincidence.
Most people will agree that although the element of human error cannot be ruled out in some of the crashes, the mere fact that more and more people keep on dying in road traffic accidents literally at the same spot or in close proximity suggests that some demonic forces are at play and must be prayed out once and for all.
Doubting Thomases may naturally scoff at the idea, but it is true prayer works.
Threatened by prolonged drought, Zambians have recently been praying for rain and it has miraculously started to pour – a sign that Zambia’s dry days are over and dams and rivers will soon be full and bursting their banks with flood water.
I also remember the remarkable story told many years ago by a pastor from a small unsung church congregation of Mopane, a village located some 20km west of Gaborone, the Botswana capital, and not very far from the Sir Seretse Khama Barracks (SSKB) in Mogoditshane.
Giving a testimony in a church, which was founded by Apostle Stephen Mwanaliti (who has since relocated to Lusaka), the visiting man of God explained that a section of the road leading to their village, off the Gaborone-Molepolole 50km highway, was a scene of frequent accidents in which many people died and others seriously injured and maimed.
Concerned at the constant loss of life, church leaders decided to start conducting overnight prayers at various points along that stretch of the road.
Initially it looked as though people were wasting their time but after months of persistent prayers of intercession, binding and casting out of demons, the rate of accidents on that gravel road dropped significantly.
The Government, which had been trying to find ways of halting the carnage, later moved in-and performed what the pastor described as mounting to ‘driving the final nail’ into the demons’ coffin.
The entire road leading into the heart of the village was tarred much to the delight of the village communities.
The Government is planning to do the same by constructing a dual carriageway between Lusaka and Kabwe and ultimately the Copperbelt, which is commendable.
However, this is a long-term and capital-intensive project while the problem at Chibombo needs immediate attention.
So as a short-term measure churches must take the lead and quickly move on site and start conducting overnight prayers there at frequent intervals.
Bishops, pastors and prophets from Kabwe, Lusaka, Mumbwa and elsewhere in the country should find time to camp along that treacherous section of the Great North Road and see to it that ‘Wall of Jericho falls down flat’.
The children of Israel were able to accomplish the feat after their leader, Joshua, had been instructed by the Lord.
According to Joshua 6: 15, 20, On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except on that day they circled the city seven times.
The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.”
When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city (and dedicated the city to the Lord).
The ‘walls’ of Chibombo must similarly come down crashing to save the lives of innocent travellers.
In fact such gatherings of saints should be replicated on all major routes throughout the country.
The Church must rise up and take the initiative.
It should not always wait for the State President to declare days of prayer when disaster strikes.
The other day I jumped on a bus from Ndola to the midlands and as the journey progressed, I could see why some of the fatal accidents happen.
Some motorists are simply too impatient: they want to have it their own way.
I was struck at the carelessness of some drivers who were risking people’s lives by overtaking three long trucks and would clearly panic at the sight of an approaching vehicles at the bend.
Some were ignoring the rule not to overtake on a continuous white-line and curve.
Others seemed comfortable to drive bumper-to-bumper without realising the danger posed by their inability to maintain a safe distance – enough space that would make it possible for one to avoid crashing into the back of the vehicle in front should it suddenly stop due to mechanical failure.
Speeding is another problem (by the way there sis no such thing as over-speeding) I noticed. I was told that bus owners have given their drivers specific timetables, which must be strictly observed and cash-in the amounts reflected in their company’s annual cash-flow projections.
The result, naturally, is that drivers work under extreme pressure for fear of losing their jobs.
So the stress factor cannot be ruled out in some of the accidents witnessed at Chibombo and elsewhere in the country.
Some crew members, because their bosses want to cut costs, drive from as far as Livingstone to Ndola and Kitwe and make the return trip the next day. They are always fatigued.
Are authorities, including the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Road Traffic and Safety Agency (RATSA) and Zambia Police Service aware of such employment arrangements, which are clearly a recipe for road accidents?
I nearly castigated the driver of our bus as he steered the huge vehicle that was carrying more than 100 passengers with one hand while he munched his bananas, using the other. He nearly lost control when a truck bearing a foreign number plate suddenly swerved to the left, indicating there was a stationary vehicle in front. Such carelessness can be costly in terms of human life.
It would seem to me also that some Zambian motorists are unaware of the fact that even tyres of motor vehicles have a lifespan of four years after which they must be replaced – no matter how new they may appear – or risk a life-threatening tyre-burst even when the vehicles is stationary.
Zambia police would help much in this direction by diversifying their road-block operations to checking for dates of manufacture, which are inscribed on every tyre by manufacturers in major exporting countries like Japan and South Africa.
Vehicles found to have tyres older than their prescribed period of use must be impounded because, like expired drugs and medicines, they are a danger not only to their owners but to passengers and other road users.
Experts also advise that to ensure safety, tyres on vehicles made specifically for use in colder countries of Europe and Asia – when brought into hotter countries like Zambia – must be changed or reinforced with tubes.
It is an established fact that tyres do expand quickly in hot weather experienced particularly in tropical Sub-Saharan African countries.
The installation of speed cameras on major highways in Zambia, including the Ndola-Kitwe dual carriage way, as the South Africans have done between Johannesburg and Pretoria, would go a long way in curbing the carnage experienced at Chibombo and other accident black-spots.
Speed cameras cost money, which Zambia, as everyone knows, does not possess at the moment.
But the country cannot be said to be experiencing a shortage of the necessary manpower as it is endowed with multitudes of evangelists, including MMD president Nevers Mumba, pastors and prophets who should immediately rise to the challenge of our time and mobilise their congregants for pilgrimages to Chibombo and pray out – once and for all – the demons hovering over the area.
The Church must not be seen to be taking the back seat on such matters of public concern.The ‘walls of Jericho’ at Chibombo mt brought crashing down by prayer and fasting.
Amen.
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